Eight weeks of My Royal Nemesis, in two curves

What happened

SBS’s Friday-Saturday drama My Royal Nemesis premiered on 8 May 2026. Topstarnews reported the next day that the first episode drew 4.1 per cent by Nielsen Korea, and noted that the drama ran to fourteen episodes, broadcast on Fridays and Saturdays at 9.50 p.m. KST.

Six days later SBS News reported that the series had become the most-watched non-English show on Netflix. Views counted from 4 to 10 May came to 3.9 million, and the series reached the top 10 in 44 countries. The same report said this was the first SBS Friday-Saturday drama ever to reach number one in that category in its opening week.

Netflix publishes its weekly global top 10 as a downloadable dataset on its own site. In that data My Royal Nemesis appears in the non-English television category for eight weeks: first for 4 to 10 May, then second for 11 to 17 May, third for 18 to 24 May, third for 25 to 31 May, second for 1 to 7 June, second for 8 to 14 June, sixth for 15 to 21 June and seventh for 22 to 28 June. Added together, the eight weeks come to 27.6 million views.

Why is it trending?

What makes the run unusual is that the two measures moved in opposite directions.

On Netflix the first week was the peak. Number one in week one was the highest rank, and the largest weekly view count was the 5.1 million of 11 to 17 May. Over the six weeks that followed the rank fell, and the series left the top 10 after seventh place for 22 to 28 June.

Domestic ratings did the reverse. The premiere’s 4.1 per cent was the lowest figure of the run, and Star News put the high at 7.8 per cent as of 20 May. JoyNews24 reported on 3 June that episode 8 peaked at 13.7 per cent, and Topstarnews reported on 21 June that the finale closed on 11.8 per cent of nationwide households, the drama’s own high. The most-watched episode at home arrived as the broadcast ended.

In the same report JoyNews24 quoted the director Han Tae-sub: “수많은 반응 중에서도 ’몇 년 만에 본방사수를 시작했다’는 말이 가장 인상 깊었다.”

What you need to know

• My Royal Nemesis ran to fourteen episodes on SBS from 8 May to 20 June 2026, on Fridays and Saturdays at 9.50 p.m. KST. SBS’s own programme page carries that slot.
• In Netflix’s published weekly global top 10 data the series appears in the non-English television category for eight weeks, and those eight weeks total 27.6 million views.
• SBS News reported that this was the first SBS Friday-Saturday drama to reach number one in that category in its opening week.
• Domestic ratings by Nielsen Korea rose from 4.1 per cent at the premiere to 11.8 per cent at the finale; the highest figure during the run was the 13.7 per cent JoyNews24 reported for episode 8.
• Lim Ji-yeon plays Shin Seo-ri and Heo Nam-jun plays Cha Se-gye. JoyNews24 names Han Tae-sub and Kim Hyun-woo as directors and Kang Hyun-joo as the writer.